Tag: Bluetooth

My Samsung Galaxy S7 Flat (G930F) does not get along with my Jaybird Bluebuds X Bluetooth headphones since updating to Android 7.0 (Nougat). I’ve tried the common fix lists, re-paired Bluetooth devices, cleared the “Bluetooth share” App data, reset network settings, even nuked the cache partition from recovery. Same issue, less than 30 seconds of Spotify playing to my Bluetooth wireless headphones then nothing, silence, not even a “command received” tone when using the media controls on my headphones, nothing then after a while it decides to play before again giving me the silent treatment.

Here’s how to fix the Bluetooth audio connectivity issue affecting the Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 Flat, there are three components as well as a list of common troubleshooting steps at the bottom. I found Bluetooth scanning was the culprit for me but suspect both Samsung Connect and Trusted devices were involved.

Update: After a brief period of stability the dropouts returned, I suspect the Android 7.1 release will fix this as it is a widely known issue with Android 7.0.

Uninstall Android Wear

The Android Wear App is known to conflict with some Bluetooth headphones (Jaybird Bluebuds X), I don’t understand whether it’s the App or the Bluetooth device at this point.

Open the Apps menu

Drag Android Wear into the bin

Restart the phone

Turn off Bluetooth scanning in Location screen

Open the Apps menu

Open Settings > Connections > Location > Improve accuracy

Turn off Bluetooth scanning

Jump back to the Home screen

Turn off the Samsung Connect panel

Open the Apps menu

Open Samsung Connect (a new App that has been installed by Samsung alongside the Android Nougat release)

Open Settings from the top-right menu (three dots)

Ensure Samsung Connect Panel is set to On

Turn your Bluetooth headphones on and wait for your Samsung Galaxy S7 to establish the connection

Pull down the status menu by sliding from the top of the screen

You should see a “Samsung Connect” listing below the device feature icons, click the Settings icon within that panel listing (looks like two circles with horizontal lines attached)

From the Samsung Connect Panel screen first untick your Bluetooth devices and “Audio output”, finally change the first option from On to Off

Jump back to the Home screen

Turn off Trusted Devices

If you have configured your Bluetooth device as a Trusted device to bypass the lock screen try removing it.

Switch to the Advanced tab (if you cannot see an Advanced tab then close this dialog and double click the other Network Adapters until you find one that has it)

Within the Property list select Bluetooth Collaboration

Change the Value of the dropdown list from Auto to Disabled

Click OK to save changes

That’s it!

The WiFi network adapter will restart the device so expect to lose network access for a moment before network access is restored. Happy days.

Update 1: Yeah the above helped but didn’t fix it entirely, somehow unticking the Enable pointer shadow option within the Mouse Properties dialog (open Start then type in Mouse) makes a big difference, I do still notice some stutter when copying files or using Google Photos.

Update 2: Uninstalling the Realtek AC’97 software from Add/Remove Software and restarting did wonders on-top of the above steps. No more stutter!